


Blood Moon

by snxwscene



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Magic, Original Character(s), Post-Breaking Dawn, Slow Burn, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23447911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snxwscene/pseuds/snxwscene
Summary: ❝Secrets I have held in my heartare harder to hide than I thought.❞[post-Breaking Dawn]
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Embry Call/Original Female Character(s), Jacob Black/Renesmee Cullen, Jared Cameron/Kim Connweller, Quil Ateara V/Claire Young, Rachel Black/Paul Lahote, Sam Uley/Emily Young
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Epigraph

_There, on blood-saturated ground, have stood_

_Soldier, assassin, executioner._

_Whether for daily pittance or in blind fear_

_Or out of abstract hatred, and shed blood,_

_But could not cast a single jet thereon._

_Odour of blood on the ancestral stair!_

_And we that have shed none must gather there_

_And clamour in drunken frenzy for the moon._

_**William Butler Yeats, Blood and the Moon** _


	2. The Sisters

**THE ROAD** was getting narrower and the forest along the sides grew thicker, as an old black pick up truck made its way towards La Push, a reservation near a small town called Forks. In the drivers seat sat a blonde woman of twenty-seven years, her bluish-grey eyes fixed to the asphalt as her fingers with painted red nails gripped the steering wheel tightly. Next to her, in the passengers seat, was her younger sister Avery who had just recently turned nineteen. The fresh breeze that crept through the open window blew her dark brown hair into her pale face, and she desperately tried to get a hold of it before deciding to close the window again. Her slightly darker grey eyes caught a glimpse of the ocean as the trees cleared up again, and she was so mesmerized by it, that she failed to notice the odd sound the car suddenly made.

After a few moments, the squeaking having ceased by then, the car slowed down and came to an abrupt stop on a patch of burnt grass, as Sera pulled the hand brake. Avery turned to look at her sister.

"What's going on?" — "I uh—I wish knew. Whatever it is, it didn't sound good," she said and looked behind her before getting out of the truck. Avery let out a sigh and followed suit, immediately moving to help her sister open the hood of the truck.

"Hold on," Sera said and got out her phone, turned on the flashlight and handed it to Avery so that she could see. The girl rolled up her sleeves and, after examining for a while, she scoffed. _"Perfect!"_

"What? What is it?"

Avery turned around to face Sera with her lips pressed together. "Ava!?" — "It's the Serpentine Belt." — "I assume that's not a _good_ thing?" — "Of course it's not!"

"Can't you just, I dunno, put it back?" Sera asked and furrowed her brows. Avery let out a laugh.

"It's broken." — _"Oh."_

Sera took a deep breath before grabbing her phone from Avery's hand, tapping around on it for some time while her younger sister took a look at everything else under the hood.

"No signal!" Sera called out in exasperation as Avery rolled her eyes and searched for something to clean her hands with. "Hey, I'm gonna try getting a signal, you okay waiting here?" — "You really want to call Triple A? Don't you think there's a repair shop or _something_ in La Push? We're pretty close already."

After looking around for another five minutes Sera decided to head into the reservation and try to find somebody, while Avery said she would wait by the car and take some photos of the nature in the meantime.

Only after Sera had disappeared from her field of view, Avery realised there wasn't much here to take decent pictures of in the first place. She could walk back half a mile and into the forest, but they were headed home from Ozette and she had taken more than enough pictures of the woods already.

Therefore, Avery fetched her bag from the floor and climbed onto the truck bed, laying down to cloudgaze until her sister would return—with help, hopefully.

After about twenty minutes there still was no sign of anyone nearby, and Avery felt her back starting to hurt so she sat up and pulled out her laptop from her bag. A high school friend of Sera's had gotten married the weekend before and since they knew her younger sister was a photography student, they put her in charge of the wedding photos.

With a smile lingering on her lips, Avery plugged her earphones into the laptop and clicked on Shuffle before navigating back to her editing program. She had already worked on the photo earlier, but took a break when staring at the screen for too long gave her a throbbing headache.

The picture showed the couple during their first dance, their faces expressing nothing but genuine and pure happiness. Their smiles radiated joy and were heavily contagious, as Avery found her own smile growing even more, almost hearing their laughter when they had awkwardly bumped their heads against each other at the very beginning of the dance.

Avery herself had always shied away from romantic relationships, utterly frightened to let somebody into her life that could at any time just leave again. However, the idea of love was a concept that she was still very fond of. Even if she wasn't a part of any of it.

Avery spent a good thirty minutes more on editing the photos until the sound of a car engine meshed into the music she was listening to. A relieved smile playing around her lips, she stuffed the laptop back into the bag and jumped off of the side of the truck.

Sera approached her, followed by two young men with black hair, russet skin and what appeared to be tribal tattoos, which led her to believe they were indeed from the Quileute Reservation.

"I found somebody!" Sera announced, a sense of accomplishment resonating in her voice.

Avery raised her eyebrows. "I can see that."

"Hi, I'm Jacob Black," one of the guys spoke and held out his hand. After a moment of hesitation Avery shook his hand, giving him a polite smile.

Before she could even introduce herself properly the other man stretched out his hand as well and she just now noticed how warm their skin seemed to be. She didn't think on it much however, her mind still wandering back to the car and how soon they were going to get back home.

"Paul Lahote. Nice meeting you." — "Avery Dalton. Thanks for helping us out."

Giving Paul a polite smile as well, she turned around to walk over to the car where Jacob was already standing. He gave Avery a quizzical look.

"So your sister didn't really say _what_ was wrong…" — "The Serpentine Belt."  
  
"That's what it was!" Sera called out while the younger sister reached under the hood again.

"How bad is it?" Paul asked just as Avery held up the belt that had snapped. "Oh." — "Yep," the girl said, throwing the now useless piece of rubber onto the truck bed, and wiped her hands on her jeans that were already stained from earlier.

Without many questions asked, they got everything ready to tow the truck and soon enough made their way into the Quileute Reservation. Avery looked around in awe, as the beach now came into full view for a while. There were barely any cars in the parking lot although the sun was peeking through the clouds that spring afternoon.

They pulled into another road and the beach disappeared in the distance, leaving Avery to notice some beautifully crafted tribal decorations on a few buildings. If she could she would get out of the car and get a closer look at them, but she decided to postpone that to a later point in time—depending on how long fixing the truck was going to take.

"This is all _your_ fault," Sera muttered which caused Avery to snap her head in her direction, furrowing her brows. "How is _any_ of this _my_ fault?"

Sera placed her hands on the steering wheel although the pick-up was only being pulled by Jacob's own one. "We took this detour because of you. Because you just _have_ to take even more photos like you don't already have enough!"

Avery scoffed. "So what? Then the car would have broken down somewhere else. At least the view is pretty around here."

"Yeah it really is …" Sera trailed off, tilting her head sideways, her eyes still stuck to the truck in front of them.

"Hey, you've got a bit of drool, like right there." Avery pointed at her chin which caused Sera to lightly punch her sister's shoulder. "Oh come on! Have you even _seen_ their shoulders? I mean— _wow!"_

Rolling her eyes with a chuckle, Avery glanced over at her sister who was gesturing around in an exaggerated manner.

"You _really_ have to flirt with every guy over twenty that you meet, don't you?" — "That is _so_ not true!" — "Oh well then what about Ty?"

Sera furrowed her brows in confusion. "Who?"

"Oh my god …" Avery dropped her head in defeat and took a deep breath. "The _one_ guy you just _kept_ hitting on this entire past weekend. The best man? Who, need I remind you, has been married for _five years_ by now? You also hit on his wife a bit later, I reckon. Do I need to tell Eli about this?"

"I had almost banished all of that embarassment from my memory. _Thanks_ for bringing it up again, really appreciate it."

Avery shot her sister a cheeky grin. "That's what I'm here for."

* * *

  
Embry and Quil had been working on motorcyles for some guy from Forks all afternoon, so when Jacob and Paul pushed a black pick-up truck into the garage they exchanged a few confused glances. They both shrugged simultaneously and resumed their work, as the car doors opened and two sisters got out, looking around curiously.

Jacob grabbed a tool box and opened the hood of the car again.

"How long is this gonna take?" Sera asked, picking up a wrench from a shelf before dropping it again and wiping her hand on her pants.

"If nothing else is damaged we should be good in thirty minutes, tops," Jake informed; Paul was already on his way to pick up a new belt.

The older sister sat down on an old sofa in a corner, almost immediately striking up a conversation with the other two men in the room, while Avery occupied herself with rummaging through her bag to retrieve her phone.

Avery shone the flashlight for Jacob to see properly, and he thanked her with a subtle nod.

"I had a look at it earlier—didn't seem like anything else is damaged at first glance, but it won't hurt to get a second opinion," the girl informed him.

"Indeed." Jacob noticed how a few bolts appeared to be slightly loose but aside from that everything else seemed to be just fine. He turned to the girl next to him. "Hey, could you hand me the torque wrench? It's the one with the—"

Avery held up the correct tool with a self-assured grin, knowing very well what a torque wrench looked like. Jacob let out a throaty laugh. "Thanks."

Quil nudged Embry with his elbow, raising his eyebrows without saying anything, but his friend understood. Anybody who knew at least a bit about fixing cars was immediately much more winsome to them.

Since Paul was still out getting the new belt, and Jake had finished tightening the bolts, Avery unpacked her laptop again, sitting down on the truck bed once more. After a few more minutes Embry and Quil excused themselves, claiming they had business to attend to, as they slipped out of the garage before Avery could catch another glimpse at them.

"Did _you_ take these?" Jacob asked the girl as he rested his head on his arms, peering over her shoulder from next to the pick-up.

She nodded, flipping through some more photos for him to see. Soon enough she went back to editing the one she had previously halted on, and Jacob watched her in silence until Paul strode though the door, triumphantly holding up the shiny new Serpentine Belt.

Sera observed the two men as they began fixing the car, while her sister was still sitting in the back. She had never been one to find excitement in working on something grimy for hours only for it to still not function in the end. Avery, however, had happily helped out at their uncle's car repair shop for hours on end when she was younger.

"Do you still want to head to First Beach later?"  
Avery turned to look at her sister, surprised at the question considering she had just blamed this exact detour for the incident.

"I would but the sun is setting already. By the time we get to the beach it'll be dark out," she frowned at the woman, failing at forcing a smile since, after all, her sister hadn't forgotten. Sera nodded, understanding what the younger girl meant.

Jacob perked up. "So you do this for a living? The photos?"

Avery now fully turned her body to face the others in the room, the door in her back which caused a hint of a churning feeling to arise in the pit of her stomach.

"Kinda. I study photography in college, so if there's _anyone_ willing to hire an amateur like me for a shoot I'll probably do it."

The two Quileute exchanged a knowing look and nodded, leaving the Dalton girls in the dark for a short while.

"A friend of ours is getting married in summer," Jacob spoke up, while Paul had one last look at their work. "Since you're probably gonna want to come back here anyway for First Beach—" He paused, sending the girl a questioning look at which she nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. "—how about I give them your number and stuff? Would you be up for that?"

"Of course!" Avery responded, immediately reaching for her bag to grab a piece of paper to write the number on.

Meanwhile, the hood of the car was closed, Jacob and Paul exchanged a satisfied grin and Paul peered at Avery's laptop, curious to see what she had been working on.

"You might want to invest in business cards sometime," he teased as he observed the girl writing down her details with permanent marker.

Avery let out a scoff, handing Jacob the paper and he uttered a quick "Thank you." before stuffing it into his pocket. After Sera had given Paul the money for the repairs, the two girls said their goodbyes, and soon enough they found themselves back on the road.

"Do you think Charlie would mind if we stopped by?" Sera suggested after they had filled up the tank at a gas station in Forks.

By now, it was raining again; the soft pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the roof of the car had sent Avery into a daze, so the girl needed a few moments to process her sister's question. "I uh—I thought you were in a hurry to get back home? Besides, don't you have another gig to get to? Those guys up in Kelowna?" — "Damn, you're right. Almost forgot."

"Sera, you _always_ forget. _Everything."_ — "Hey, that's _not_ true! I always remember your birthday, and my own, and a lot of phone numbers, and—" — "… _and_ all the words to _Don't Fear the Reaper_ , yes, I know."

"Dad loved that song," the older sister spoke after a few seconds of complete silence, save for the consistent sound of the rain against the windshield. Avery nodded slowly, reaching out to turn up the radio at the same time as Sera did. Both of them let out an awkward huff of air, as the blonde turned up the volume to listen to the traffic report.

For the next four hours neither of them said another word; Sera kept her eyes glued to the road and Avery had fallen asleep a couple miles out of Forks. Whenever the car came to a stop due to traffic or a red light, Sera would glance over at her sister, as though to make sure she was still there. As though she was worried the girl would just disappear. There was only one thing she had promised herself after the accident; she would do anything and everything to ensure her baby sister's safety, no matter what it took. Seeing her sleep so peacefully made her feel like she was almost doing a good job at it.


	3. Worry

The car soon pulled into the driveway and into the garage next to their small house on the outskirts of Seattle, and Avery began to stir as Sera hopped out on her side. With a yawn, the girl stretched out her arms until they met the soft material of the ceiling, and she rubbed her eyes before helping her sister bring the luggage back into the empty house.

"I'll probably head out early tomorrow morning," Sera murmured, standing in the doorway to Avery's room. The girl had just set her laptop down on the wooden desk next to the twin-sized mattress with a dark blue duvet and pillows on top of it. Apart from a large bookshelf and some potted plants, there wasn't really anything else in the room, as until recently, when Avery started university, the two had moved around a lot.

"Okay. Breakfast?" Avery asked, raising an eyebrow with a hopeful expression.

Sera shook her head. "I think I'll leave as soon as the sun rises."

Avery walked over to her sister and wrapped her arms around her, resting her head on Sera's shoulder, as the blonde was slightly taller. "Be careful, alright?"

Sera nodded, ruffling Avery's hair gently before holding her at arm's length. "I promise."

With a soft smile Avery held up her hand, her pinkie raised in the air. "Promise?" Returning the smile, Sera linked her pinkie with that of her sister and nodded.

"Kick their asses, will you?" — "You bet. And now go to bed. It's been a long day." — "Love you." — "Love you, too."

* * *

  
A few days later, Avery still hadn't heard from her sister. She knew that, by now, she should be used to it, but whenever it took Sera more than a week to message or call her, she couldn't help but start worrying.

She tried staying preoccupied with assignments and editing jobs, but when she lay in bed at night and stared up at the ceiling, desperately trying to fall asleep, the worry set in.

The morning of the eighth day, a Saturday, Avery was sitting on the kitchen island, coffee and a sandwich next to her and the newspaper in her hands. The rays of sunlight that made their way through the big window opposite her warmed her skin comfortingly, as the girl skimmed through the headlines, occasionally taking a sip from her beverage.

The sudden noise of Avery's phone ringing caused the girl to flinch slightly, before jumping up and discarding the newspaper on the floor. She took two long steps towards the couch and picked up the phone, taking a deep breath before answering without even looking at the caller ID.

"Dalton?"

It was silent for a few seconds until an unknown voice spoke up.

_"This is Emily Young. Uh—... Jacob Black gave me your information."_

Upon realising it was indeed not her sister calling, Avery frowned slightly, but remembered she was on the phone with a bride in spe and possible client, so she forced herself to focus. "Ah yes, he mentioned that a friend of his was getting married and hadn't hired a photographer yet …?" She dragged out the end of her sentence to sound more like a question, while heading to her room to open her laptop.

_"Yes exactly. Well, actually we didn't even want to hire a professional photographer, but when he gave us your website as well I thought Why not look at it, at least?"_ The hint of a smile appeared on Avery's face. _"But then I saw that one recent photo of another wedding, you uploaded as a preview and—well, now I'm calling you, aren't I?"_

Leaning back in her chair, Avery scratched the back of her head at the indirect compliment. "So you changed your mind then, I suppose?" — _"Well it depends …"_ — "On what?" — _"The price."_

The girl let out a chuckle at Emily's undecided tone. "I don't really have a set price, besides, when our car broke down we only had to pay for the new Belt, so I still owe a favor anyway."

On the other end of the line, there was muffled talking, and Avery waited patiently while skimming through her calendar.

_"Jake mentioned you wanted to come back to La Push to take some nature photos anyway?"_ Avery hummed in response. _"How about you come here a few days earlier and we pay for your stay at the hotel and the gas—"_ — "Just the hotel would be more than enough already, Ms Young." - _"Oh, please, call me Emily. And are you sure? I know at your age money is a thing that—"_

Avery interrupted her again. "Emily, I'm serious. Like I said, I still owe Jacob and Paul a favour, and if I can repay that by documenting this very wonderful and special day for their friends, then I'd be more than happy to do that." Emily chuckled.

"So when is the wedding anyway?" The girl asked. _"The second weekend of August,"_ Emily replied and Avery flipped through her calendar until she found the page, everything around it was still entirely free.

Over the course of the next half hour the two discussed further details, and by the time they said their goodbyes both of them felt like they would get along very well, once they actually met in person.

Upon ending the call, Avery picked up some clothes from the pile on a chair in the corner of the room, and got dressed before heading out of the house. A smaller library was within walking distance from the house—something the Dalton girls had both been delighted by, already when they drove past it the first time being in town.

The two-story building was in a rather pitiful condition; while the university library was nearly constantly being worked on, nobody seemed to care about such a comparably small establishment, and whether the whole structure had become dilapidated.

The familiar scent of old books and the wooden shelves put Avery at ease, as she strolled along the aisles for about the hundredth time since they had moved to Seattle. There was nothing in particular the girl was looking for, having already finished all assignments trying to distract herself from worrying about Sera.

Avery worried a fair amount about those she cared about deeply. Thus, she always tried to keep her distance, at least emotionally, since in this world nothing and nobody was permanent. The accident served as a grim reminder of that fact, dwelling in the back of her head at all times.

After aimlessly strolling around for a while, the girl soon found herself in front of the old couch she had sat on so often, studying her father's journals whenever Sera was away. Today, however, she had no book to read or work to do, but she sat down anyway, letting her mind wander off as people entered and left the library one after another.

A red-haired woman named Marina, the owner of the bookshop on the second floor, was on her way down the stairs when she spotted the small figure on the sofa with a glazed look in her eyes. Approaching the girl as carefully and quietly as her stiletto heels would let her, Marina gave a quick wave before sitting down next to her.

"Haven't heard from your sister yet?"

Avery shook her head, slowly turning her head towards the woman, meeting green eyes with her own, before averting her gaze again. "Normally she would have called by now," the brunette sighed, flattening out the material of her jeans awkwardly.

"Oh I'm sure she's just fine, honey. Sera's a tough one—besides, Eleanor went with her, didn't she tell you?" — "I uh- I think she forgot to mention that."

Sera had never introduced the two, but as much as she talked about her, Avery felt like they'd known each other for years. Eleanor often worked together with Sera and to Avery's understanding the two had become rather close partners over time.

"What about you? Why doesn't she bring you along anymore?" Marina asked in a hushed voice, even though the scattered carpets and wooden furniture avoided the sound being carried throughout the rooms.

_"No hunting trips during the semester._ At least that's what she says at the moment," Avery muttered, pursing her lips. "When I'm on break it's usually either _'But you deserve a break from all the work'_ or _'It's a small job so no need'_."

Marina sighed, tilting her head to the side, trying to decode the indifferent expression on the girl's face. The woman jumped slightly as Avery suddenly stood, giving her a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "But I guess since Eleanor is with her, there's no reason to worry, is there? Thanks for letting me know."

"Oh are you leaving already?" — "Yeah. I still have an assignment due next Friday and just wanted to take a quick break." That was a lie, but Marina didn't need to know that. "Well then good luck, and get home safe."

The girl nodded, the forced smile nearly frozen on her face, as she made her way to the door and back to the empty house. There was nothing in the mailbox aside from bills which she mindlessly dropped on the kitchen counter, next to the newspaper she had discarded earlier when Emily had called.

The remainder of the weekend she spent working on photos, old and new, and doing some extra reading for an upcoming seminar.

The next week, lectures dragged on with even more theoretical examples and exercises, and Avery would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for the boy next to her who would always nudge her arm right before she could rest her head on the desk.

She didn't even know much about him, aside from the fact that his name was Drew, but he had sat next to her in every lecture and class nearly all semester. They would sometimes talk during breaks or sit together at lunch, and she appreciated the company, but after a while he had started to make certain advances that she consciously tried to ignore. This only encouraged him to make repeated attempts at asking her out or flirting, but she always managed to divert his attention or find an excuse.

Even now, as he was leaning on the side of her car and talked about a movie that was coming to theatres soon, Avery only smiled distantly and nodded every so often while other cars left and arrived around them.

Soon enough, Drew excused himself, stating that he was late for Lacrosse practice. Avery waved and gave him another polite smile, before getting into her car and moving to toss her bag onto the passengers seat but she stopped dead in her tracks with a shriek.

"I _swear_ to god, Sera, do this one more time and I'll—" — "Sorry. I saw the opportunity and I took it." Sera gave her sibling a wide grin. "Can we stop somewhere to get food? The fridge is empty."

Avery shrugged, pulling out of the parking lot as she kept glancing over at her older sister. Something appeared off—her smile seemed a bit more stiff, a bit more put on, and her voice sounded louder than normal, as though she was trying to make herself sound excited. Or maybe she was just reading too much into it after worrying for Sera's safety so intensely.

"How is Eli doing?" the brunette asked after a few minutes spent in silence, as Sera adjusted her seatbelt.

"She's— doing alright. How did you know?" — "Marina." — _"Of course."_

Avery raised an eyebrow, letting out a sigh. "It wouldn't have killed you to give me a call, you know?" — "I know, I know. My phone broke." — "It _broke?"_ Skepticism laced Avery's voice as she stopped at a red light and turned to face her sister. "And you couldn't have used Eleanor's?" — "She doesn't _have_ a phone." — "Or a payphone? Damn it, next time just— _please_ —if you won't let me come along _at least_ let me know you're _alive_ , okay?"

Sera blinked a few times, before giving her sister the first honest smile of the day. "You don't need to worry about me, Ava."


End file.
